So this week we saw a huge miracle with the familia sosa!
Last monday during our FHE with them, Erek, the husband, said, ´´Look hermanas,
I don´t want to get baptized right now. I´m not ready. I´ll keep learning, and
going to church, and supporting my wife, and when I feel ready I will get
baptized.´´ Well I was totally shocked because he had passed his interview and
seemed so set, and my eyes started welling up with tears. I felt heart broken
that so clearly opposition had nailed him so hard that he was backing out of
one of the best decisions of his life. Sadly, I didn´t really say all that I
was thinking and feeling in the moment.

But the next day we felt strongly to call him, and when we
did we told him everything we were feeling. The bar next door was BLASTING
music during the call so even inside the house, with the windows and doors
shut, we could barely hear him. We found a ´´more quiet´´ spot in the house and
we asked him if he could say a prayer over the phone to know if he should get
baptized right now. So in our house, and him in his house, we all kneeled down
and over the phone he said a prayer. It was SO powerful and then after that the
spirit hit me so hard and was like, ´´have him visualize his baptism´´ so I did
an visualizing exercise with him and afterwards he said, ´´You´re right. This
is my time. I´m getting baptized.´´ We both burst into tears we were so happy.
It taught us more on what missionary work REALLY is. It´s all out of love and
guided by the spirit, that is FOR SURE. It was serene.

But, on Friday the wife’s grandpa Eli, passed away so they
had to go out of town for the weekend but we will be having their baptism
promptly.

On Christmas Eve we were going home from the mission
christmas activity with the assistants and our zone leaders and some other
sisters and on the way the car broke down!! So we did the normal thing to do,
wait for help, and take pictures. It was a christmas eve adventure I will never
forget. We got home really late, but hey, at least there was a good reason..
and now some good pictures?

Christmas was AMAZING! Talking to my family was just the
best. And as much as they say it, I do not believe I have an accent. ;) My
family is the best and cutest family there is, that´s for sure. Couldn´t be
more grateful for them.

So just a thought for the new year through my studies and
thinking. I think there is something divine about setting goals and making
plans, and accomplishing them. I think the greatest plan ever made was before
this life, that is, the plan of salvation, or the plan of happiness. I think
God is our number one example of setting a hard plan or goal in order to
achieve something amazing, and actually doing it. What if our Heavenly Father
had said, two years before Christ was born, ´´you know what? This whole trying
to inspire my children to make good choices and seeing them fall so much is
getting really hard, maybe I should just forget this plan.´´ How would life
be?? I think when we set new years goals and plans, we are becoming more like
our Heavenly Father, and even more so when we actually do them! I think he can
really help us, and he wants to help us. He wants us to have dreams, and goals,
and plans. He loves us.

And I´ve learned that every year is part of our plan of
salvation, so how will we take this year in the scheme of our lives and take
advantage of this time to become the best people we possibly can through the
atonement??

I also want to share a short story on gratitude as we think
about each of our circumstances, abilities, and talents. Yesterday our first
counselor shared this story:

There was a poor man, who spent most of his time making any
sort of income to survive. He always thought ´´I´m just so poor and have
nothing´´. One day a wise buyer walked up and said, ´´You think you´re poor? I
can help you out.´´ And the poor man said, ´O.k.! I´ll do anything!´´ The man
then said, ´´I will give you $10,000 for your arm´´ and the poor man said, ´´of
course not!´´ to which the wise man replied, ´´Really?? Hm... How about $30,000
for both of your arms??´´ and the poor man said, ´´No! I can´t live without
both of my arms.´´ The wise man said, ´´Okay $20,000 for your leg.´´ And he
said, ´´No I don´t want to live without a leg!´´ And he said, ´´$400,000 for
both legs??´´ And the poor man said, ´´No!´´ The wise man said, ´´How about $1,000,000
for both of your legs and both of your arms??´´ And the poor man said, ´´No I
will not give you my body parts. I can´t live without them, and they are
precious! ´´ To which the wise buyer then said, ´´Look how fortunate you
are, and you never realized it.´´

This year, I really want to be more grateful for what I
have. I really want to think of all of the wonderful blessings the Lord has
given to me, and less about what I might be ´´lacking.´´ I think gratitude
leads to happiness. I know the Lord has given us everything, and every day we
wake up and have an opportunity to make a bowl of cereal, or make an egg, or
leave to work, or leave to school, or even leave to preach the gospel, we
should be grateful. Because in that moment, he is giving us everything. He
always gives much more than we deserve, and he only asks us our hearts and to
follow him, willingly and happily.

I´m just so happy to be a missionary. And for all the
wonderful blessings the Lord has given me. He truly is so good.

Oh my goodness, how
do I even start this week?? SO many blessings, miracles, and adventures to
count.

So I will start
with the best, La Familia Sosa. So we watched the Joseph Smith movie last
monday with them for FHE (they had doubts about him) and after the movie the
spirit was SO strong and we felt so strong we needed to ask them if they
believed if he was a prophet. Erek, the husband, said firmly, ''yes!''. And
they felt SO much better about being baptized! They had their interviews on
Saturday and both passed. We will be having their baptismal service on Saturday
this week.

After that lesson
we had a cool miracle moment and testimony of the blessings of obedience. It
was 9:10 when we left their house (we have to be home at 9:30) so we had to
hurry home because we were far away. Normally we wait for a carrito to take us
(a carrito is like a public taxi) but none were coming so we decided we had to
do our best to be obedient so we would just walk as fast as possible, and get
on a carrito if it passed us, instead of waiting. So we started SPEEDWALKING
like none other, and 2 carritos passed us without seeing us! We were literally
dying at it was 9:27 and we weren't even that close to the house. I said a
silent prayer in my heart that if possible, we could make it home on time.
Right then a carrito passed, who wasn't even the right route, but offered to take
us! It was such a miracle. Walking in right at 9:30 never felt better. If we do
our very best, the Lord really will provide miracles!

So sad/not sad news
was we visited a new ''golden investigator'' named Judelka who has come to
church a lot and so we thought she'd get baptized super fast. We prayed and
prayed that she would accept the gospel and her baptism date and were so
excited for our lesson..Well, That very lesson she very happily showed us her
baptism pictures from a year ago in Santiago.... Not saying that her being a
member is a bad thing because it's not... but.... sigh :( :)

Another miracle of
the week was that we had NO food in the house and we needed to eat there on
Sunday so we were like... ug... what do we do?? At the moment of realization
there was a knock on the door and it was a member and he brought us 3 take out
trays of food becaus ''his family felt like it''!! The Lord is just SO good,
it's amazing. I never ceased to be amazed at the tender mercies he just pours
down on us.

So remember that I
mentioned that we live by a bar that plays music until 5 AM? Well, I may or may
not have gotten sick of it at 3 AM one morning and just decided to call the
police... I was thinking they probably wouldn't do much. But by miracle, they
showed up at the bar 15 minutes later and told them to turn down the music (I
was enjoying the scene from my window) and so I woke up hermana greenstreet
(like a nice thoughtful companion) and excitingly told her what had happened.
She was like, ''Wow that's great hermana schmidt.'' And I said, ''I'm Just so
happy''. So now we just keep saying ''I'm just so happy'' whenever something
good happens. That may or may not have happened more than once this week (The
calling the police). *Missionary power*

We got to stay at
presidents house... AKA THE HOTEL. We got a hot shower :') and it even had
pressure. Lately i've had hot showers because I boil water on the stove and put
it in a cold water bucket... but this one actually had pressure :') So happy,
so very, very happy. We got to stay there because Hermana Hinrichsen and I
(another sister) got to do a musical number for a special sisters conference so
they wanted us to practice there. So... I will be hoping for more musical
number opportunities. ;) It was so wonderful... and comfy... and
quiet...:)

So just a quick
comment. I learned a leadership lesson this week on the important of listening!
I never realized how much revelation can come if we take a moment to think
about what they just told us and REALLY think about it. After really listening.
I took time, after listening to one of the sister's struggling, to sit there
with her and just meditate a couple of minutes. The Lord seriously 100% opened
my mind and I knew exactly what she needed. It was amazing. Listening+Meditating..
works wonders!! :)

The Lord directed
us to SEVEN new families just on Sunday which was a HUGE miracle. So the work
is just rolling and the Lord is just amazing. I love it here so much!

I hope everyone has
a wonderful christmas this week! :) Love you all so much and thanks for all you
do.

so this week my
companion got a weird stomach virus so we were sadly in a lot of the time. But
we were able to have some exchanges and I was able to see some of our
investigators!

We had the chance to
go to a tourist swap meet that will be in our area every monday for the next 3
months. So, that will explain some of the pictures. It was really fun, and fun
to shock all the dominicans
when we started speaking spanish (because they all automatically think we are
just tourists and don't know) and then they realize they can't hack up their
prices.... Spanglish for the win!

On a sad/funny note,
we live close to an outdoor bar that BLASTS music all through the night. We
haven't slept very well, but... it is christmas time. AKA dominicans loco time.
But... the opportunity from all of this is that it's teaching me what music in
spanish I probably shouldnt'listen to after my mission... haha.

But we were able to
go the temple TWICE !:) Once as a mission (and actually do a session) and once
with a family we are teaching who have a baptismal date for the 26th this month
named La Familia Sosa. (That sounds weird in english, i'm sorry). The first
time with the mission was just marvelous, as it always is, and it always gives
me such a boost for the next little bit before the next temple trip.

The second trip was
so amazing, and the spirit was really strong as we taught La Familia Sosa. We
realized their #1 doubt is with Joseph Smith and so we will be watching the
Joseph Smith movie today with them, and we really feel that will help them
understand his role in the Restoration and why we need to have a testimony of
his calling.

We taught our French
Investigator, Mevina, who is here for 10 months. We taught her in english,
which was super cool because I was on exchanges with Sister Pichardo who barely
speaks english but suddenly in the lesson could really teach the gospel with
power. The gift of tongues is so real! It was super powerful, and Mevina is
really excited and now is reading her french BOM.

We had a cool experience
this week that strengthened my testimony of the Lord's hands in his work. We
were with a member and her car broke down while we were going to appointments.
We were stranded at night, in the sketchiest part of our area, without real
knowledge on how to help her car. So for 2 hours we were working on it, trying
to fix it, and nothing was working. Then, after 2 hours, a man pulled over and
started helping us. It turns out he lived really close, with his wife and kids,
and actually wanted us to come visit them! The Lord truly works in mysterious
ways.

There's not a lot
more to update on, but I was reading my scriptures this morning and I loved
these verses in Mosiah 5:

And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all
the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and
truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a
mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more
disposition to do evil, but to do good continually...And we, ourselves,
also, through the infinite goodnessof God, and the manifestations of his
Spirit, have great views of that which is to come; ... And we are willing
to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be
obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the
remainder of our days, ...herefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and
immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God
Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that
ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and
power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in
heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen.

So I am studying right now the topics of conversion and consecration.
I absolutely loved those scriptures and I am really trying to consecrate my
mission to the Lord, and more importantly (and after my mission) my life to
him. All I want is to be truly converted, fully consecrated, and to participate
in this grand work until I can't any longer. I know that when we turn it all
over to the Lord,and truly always try and do his will, we will be happy. We
will feel full and whole and holy and satisfied. It's the road to pure joy. And
we are all on the journey, and although it's a process it's possible! With the
Lord we can consecrate our lives, and be his disciples. We just have to follow
Him and do his Will. I love this quote from Brad wilcox : ''God wouldn't refine
you if you weren't worth refining.'' I try to remember that when I get
frustrated or slip up and fall short... that it's a process and the Lord is
just refining me because he sees what I can become. And what we all can become.
And what we can become... is someone like him. Perfect and wonderful! I
truly feel his love, he is wonderful.

I love you all so much!!! Hurrah for Israel! :)

-Hermana Schmidt

Bus Ride to the Temple

Hermana Schmidt and Hermana Greenstreet 2nd temple trip

Hermana Greenstreet and Hermana Schmidt Temple Trip #1

Another of Hermana Greenstreet and Hermana Schmidt

Hermana Schmidt

Hermana Schmidt, Hermana Greenstreet, President Corbitt

Hermana Schmidt, Hermana Greenstreet and cute Yallin (Kevin's sister from her first area)

So there is not a
whole lot to report this week, and for that I am sorry. This email will be
really short.

So we saw a
Tarantula by our house. First one i've seen... thankfully. I almost had a heart
attack. So I did the only logical thing to do and whipped out the phone and got
super close and took a picture. Totally normal.

We did intercambios(exchanges) and I went up to Hato Mayor which is
CAMPO. Its an area basically in the mountains and is very very different from
the city life. The people are really humble and kind. It was a sweet area to visit
this week.

While in the
Intercambio we were teaching this family and the mom said, ''Look. If I ask a
catholic they will say they are the right ones. Or any other religion. So
obviously you guys are just going to say you are the right ones. So that's
that. I can't really come to believe
any of you guys.'' And we thought for a moment and then answered her and flat
out said, ''You know what, I don't want you to believe us. I don't want you to
trust in just our words and take them and that's that and we are right and
whatever. That's not what its about. We are here in invite you to pray to know
if this is the church with ALL the truth. If this is really the Kingdom of God
on Earth today. We want you to trust in the answer you receive from God,
because that's what I trust in. I received my answer, I know it's true. I know
its true not from a pile of evidence or even the words of my parents and
leaders and the scriptures (although those helped), I know its true because I
prayed with all of my heart and received an answer directly from my Heavenly
Father. I know it's true.''

The spirit was
sublime in that moment. A testimony is more powerful that any ''evidence'' we
have, really truly.

Other than that
Hermana Greenstreet and I are focusing on being healthier and so far we are
doing good with our food and exercise. It is making a HUGE difference for me.
It's crazy how much just small changes in the way we eat can make such a
powerful impact on the way we see ourselves and feel the spirit. Word of Wisdom
for the win!

Rosa and Rafael are
doing AMAZINGLY. We had a sweet lesson with Rosa where we had her 'visualize'
her baptism and her husbands baptism. She started crying and said, ''I want
that so bad! I will do anything!'' So we told her they had to get married
legally and stop smoking completely, well we set a marriage date with them for
the 18th and they are down to one cigarette a day!! Miracles upon miracles!
:)

We are going to the
temple this week and I couldn't be more excited! We are actually going twice,
one with the mission, and one with a family we are teaching who will be
baptized the 19th if everything works out. I am just living the dream I swear.
This mission is the best decision I have seriously ever made and I am so
grateful. So so grateful. This truly is the Lord's work my friends, and it
makes me so indescribely happy.